The Strawberry Festival
by KrissyReminisce
Summary: Mollie and Burt try out a new parenting tactic when they take Kurt to the Annual Strawberry Festival.  This is based off a situation mentioned in Keitorin Asthore's story 'Extravaganza.'


**Title:** The Strawberry Festival

**Rating:** G

**Pairings:** Burt/Mollie (Kurt's mom), Kurt, Blaine

**Spoilers:** No Spoilers

**Warnings (if any)**: None

**Word Count:** 1486

**Summary:** Mollie and Burt try out a new parenting tactic when they take Kurt to the Annual Strawberry Festival.

**A/N:** I don't own Glee, and I don't own Francey, Anna or Mollie. They were both created by Keitorin Asthore. This is based of a line from her 'Extravaganza' fic. :D And if you'd like, can follow me on Tumblr! :) Let me know what you thought!

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><p>"Where did you hear about these again?" Burt asked as he eyed the stuffed lion in his hands. It had straps like a backpack and the tail was longer than normal with a loop at the end.<p>

"It's a leash," he said, giving her a skeptical look. "So, our kid's a dog now?"

"Yes, it's a leash, and _no_ he's not a dog! I read about it a parenting magazine, and I've seen plenty of parents use them. At the mall, the grocery store. I want to try it out, especially after Kurt got away from me at the store last week," Mollie explained as she tied Kurt's shoes.

"I don't know about this," he said as he looked at the side of the package. That kid looked happy enough.

"It'll be fine," she said as she settled the toddler on her hip. He was dressed in green, plaid shorts, a white, short-sleeved button up, and white keds.

"All right," he said as he pulled the lion out of the package and set the package on the table. The two made their way to the car, and Burt waited until Kurt was all strapped in before he gave him his pacifier (red and white) and put the lion in his lap. At Mollie's curious look, he shrugged, "Might as well get 'em used to it."

The drive wasn't too bad; it was only an hour away. Occasionally Burt and Mollie would peek at Kurt in the rearview mirror and he was calmly playing with the lion. The Strawberry Festival in Troy was something they did last year and really enjoyed it. Burt enjoyed it because Mollie made sure to buy plenty of strawberries for her strawberry cake and strawberry cupcakes. They were ridiculously delicious.

When they finally made it to the festival and found a place to park, the sun was high in the sky.

"It's a good day for this," Burt said, squinting over at the tents before he pulled the diaper bag out of the trunk.

Mollie made a noise of agreement as she pulls Kurt of out of the car. She rubbed in some sunscreen and he smiled at her around his pacifier, "All right, KK, are you ready to get some strawberries?"

The little boy nodded as Mollie situated him on her hip and looked over at Burt, "Ready?"

"Yup. When are you going to put that thing on?" he asked as he shouldered the brown diaper bag.

"Maybe when he wants to walk," she said breezily. "Right, KK? Are you going to do some walking today?"

The little toddler just hugged the lion close to his chest and grinned at her around his pacifier.

"I'll take that as a yes," she said with a smile. "You have the camera, right, Burt?"

"Huh? Oh, uh, yeah," he said, digging into the diaper bag until he pulled out a small camera. "Here."

They made their way through the large crowds, occasionally stopping at a booth to inspect some of the strawberries, which Mollie wanted to wait until the end of the day to buy, but couldn't pass up some large, juicy, plump ones when she saw them.

"Might as well, they'll be gone when we come back up this way," she explained.

About half an hour into their wanderings, Kurt began to squirm, wanting to walk.

"All right, here we go," Mollie said as they moved over to a bench. There was a woman with bright, blonde hair sitting on the end of the bench. She had her own little boy in her lap.

"Right, we're going to introduce Kurt, 'man's best friend,'" Burt said as he sat down on the bench. Kurt stood on his knees as Mollie fitted the leach around him, snapping it into place.

"There you are! Now you can carry your lion around on your back!" she said cheerfully.

Burt rolled his eyes but grinned nonetheless as he sat Kurt on the ground, "All right, Scooter. Ready to get some strawberries?"

But Kurt ignored him; instead he just tugged at the straps around his chest with a furrowed brow.

"Come on, Scooter," Burt said, standing. He shouldered the diaper bag again and took Mollie's hand so they both held on the end of the leash.

Mollie grinned down at Kurt and took a picture; the toddler looked up at that moment and gave her a glare. She laughed, "Oh, baby, it's fine! Come on, I saw a craft table just over there."

The adults turned and started to walk, but only got a few steps away before they felt a tug on the leash. Turning back, they saw Kurt was just standing there, arms folded over his tiny chest and a glare on his face.

Burt crouched down and whistled while he patted his knee, "Come on, Scooter. Come on!"

Mollie whacked Burt on the shoulder, "He's not a dog!"

He looked up at her, "Well, he is on a leash. Come on, Scooter. It's not that bad." The little boy just narrowed his eyes.

Before either parent could attempt to bribe the toddler, the little boy sitting on the blond woman's lap squirmed free and toddled over to Kurt.

"Puppy!" he said with a giggle, his smile wide.

Kurt turned his glare from his parents to the little boy standing next to him. He had dark, curly hair and was dressed in a green shirt and denim overalls. Kurt carefully pulled the pacifier out of his mouth and let it hang from his shirt. "No!"

"Blaine!" the woman exclaimed, jumping to her feet and sweeping the little boy into her arms. "That's not very nice! I am so sorry!"

Mollie smiled and Burt laughed a little, "It's all right, really. Kurt's not really fan, if you can't tell."

The woman gave them a relieved smile and then looked at Blaine, "Why don't you say you're sorry, Babbie."

"Why?"

"Kurt isn't at puppy, he's a boy just like you," the woman said as she sat the little boy on the ground.

Blaine stood in front of Kurt for a few seconds, the smaller boy still glaring at Blaine.

"Sowwy," Blaine said, looking properly apologetic.

"Kurt, what do you say?" Burt asked as he kneeled and nudged his son's shoulder gently.

Kurt glared at Blaine for a few more seconds, the curly haired boy just continued to smile until Kurt finally, after a look at his father, muttered, "S'kay."

"Aren't they adorable," Mollie cooed, smiling widely at Blaine and then at his mother.

The woman beamed, "Thank you! Your little boy is just darling."

Mollie smiled, "Thank you. Blaine is just adorable."

"I tried the child leash on my oldest, Francey. She pretended to be a dog the whole time. Which was fine, but then she peeled off her diaper and peed on a bedding display. So we're just going to give Blaine the benefit of the doubt. I'm Anna, by the way."

Mollie laughed at the story before extending her hand, "Mollie, it's a pleasure to meet you."

While the adults were chatting, Blaine was inspecting the lion on Kurt's back while Kurt was fussing with the straps again.

"How old is your little one?" Anna asked as she kept an eye on Blaine.

"Just turned two in April," Burt said. "Yours?"

"Blaine is two and a half," Anna said, looking at the curly haired boy fondly.

The three adults fell silent as they watched the two toddlers interact. The two boys had started to chatter, going between babbling and the occasional, actual word thrown in there. For about five minutes they chattered, fiddled with the straps across Kurt's chest, and pointed at random things around them.

The scene was broken by Anna's watch alarm going off, "Oh, I better get going. I have to pick up Francey from her play date. It was lovely meeting you. Perhaps we could set up a playdate."

"Oh, that sounds wonderful," Mollie said, and the two women exchanged contact information.

"Say good bye to Kurt, Babbie," Anna said before she picked him up.

"Bai!"

"Bye bye!" Kurt replied, waving.

Once the two were gone, Mollie and Burt turned back to Kurt. They tried to tug him a little with the leash, to see if he'd gotten over his earlier dislike. Kurt slammed the pacifier back in his mouth and frowned, crossing his arms again.

"Mollie, this isn't working," Burt said, sitting heavily on the bench.

"All right, all right," she sighed and kneeled in front of Kurt. "You hate this thing, don't you, KK?"

Kurt nodded and waited for her to remove the leash and give it to Burt, who shoved it into the diaper bag. Once he was free, Kurt immediately darted off, his little legs pumping.

"Kurt!"

"KK!"

Both parents hurried after Kurt as he toddled towards a booth that had crisp white linens decorated with little strawberries.


End file.
